


My Head is An Animal

by IPutOnMyHeadphonesWalking



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cats, Domestic Avengers, Family, Fluff, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I slipped some Steve angst in here, Natasha Likes Cats, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Team, So I turned him into one, Steve Angst, Swearing, Swedish Sorcerers Suck, Team Dynamics, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Thor is gentle, Tony Has Issues, Tony Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony acts like a cat, Why Did I Write This?, Written from Steve’s POV, because why not?, cat!Tony, jazz hands, maaaagic, maybe???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-08 01:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19097416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IPutOnMyHeadphonesWalking/pseuds/IPutOnMyHeadphonesWalking
Summary: During a battle, Tony Stark is turned into a cat. Somehow, the egotistical genius becomes even more annoying.Also, the Avengers learn a little bit about the soft side of Tony. (Pun totally intended.)





	1. Chapter 1

Steve was not in a good mood. He didn’t think anyone on the team was. They were all currently in the middle of their fourth battle that week and they were exhausted. They had been getting Assemble calls in the middle of breakfast, while training, and they even got an Assemble call half past midnight (Tony had been the quickest to respond to that one, happily notifying them about how slow they were).

That morning, Steve had received the call as he was getting dressed and he had to reluctantly change from comfortable sweatpants to his ‘work’ outfit.

When the team had arrived on the scene, they were in all varying stages of pissed. Natasha seemed to be the calmest, but Steve knew from experience that she was simply hiding her frustration. Clint was a little more outwardly angry, mumbling through the comms about how he was ‘going to relax today’ and ‘make a goddamn sandwich, was that too much to ask for?’

And then there was Tony. Tony was always filling the comms with his chatter, but today there were less jabs and quips, and more complaints. Throughout the entire battle he agreed with Clint about the loss of opportunities for the day. He spoke of how he had updates to install and meetings to attend (even though he probably wouldn’t have attended them anyway) and how he had to make sure that Dum-E didn’t cover the entire lab with foam.

Tony and Clint’s groaning did not make Steve’s mood any better, and the fact that Thor was gone was the cherry on top of the bad day. Without Thor’s help, the battle could take forever since the villain in question happened to be magical. The man (sorcerer?) had to ability to make multiple realistic copies of himself, so they never knew if they were fighting the right one. No one (not even Tony) knew the motive of this man, other than to be a royal pain in their sides.

No one was able to even get a hit on the sorcerer, all either battling fake ones, or being to slow. Natasha had killed and maimed a large amount of fake ones, but was slowly losing her calm facade as she rounded angrily on another. Clint was furiously shooting arrows in all directions, but was unable to get any damage on the true villain.

Steve was becoming worried about Tony, however, as his comm had gone silent and he was no longer rapidly shooting random shots at the copies. 

Steve watched out of the corner of his eye as Iron Man slowly lifted his finger after a few minutes of still and pointed to a seemingly random copy.

“ _That_ one.”

Steve followed the direction of the finger to one of the sorcerers, who dodged one of Clint’s arrows to let a copy be hit. The figure didn’t seem to be doing anything differently than all of the others, acting just as sporadic and random.

Within the split second it took for Steve to comprehend the words, Tony had already shot a precise repulsor blast at the man. As soon as the shot connected, every single copy dissipated.

After Steve had realised that the person who he was fighting was no longer there, he looked back up to see that the original sorcerer was still standing strong, and looking quite smug.

He turned to look at Tony, and spoke, his voice impossibly loud, “Congratulations, Man of Iron. Quite impressive actually, your attack was so graceful and stealthy,” his smug look turned into an impossibly wide grin, “and so _catlike_.” 

Before anyone could move, Thor chose that moment to make his entry, looking very angry. He zeroed in on the sorcerer and his eyes flashed furiously, “ _Manlig_ _Kattdame_! Leave this place before you regret it. I will not hesitate to kill you.”

The sorcerer, or Manlig Kattdame, faltered slightly before regaining his composure, “Of course I’ll leave. I just need to give a small parting gift first.”

And before anyone could react, Manlig Kattdame turned and sent out a beam of light (was that coming from his chest?), straight at Tony.

While Steve ran as fast as he could to Tony’s fallen suit, Thor made the sky erupt in thunder, leaving Manlig Kattdame nothing more than a scorch mark on the ground.

Steve arrived at the suit and was horrified to notice that it wasn’t moving. He prayed that it just meant that the suit had shut down, and Tony was alright, but there was no telling.

Clint’s voice quickly filled his ear, sounding very worried, “Is he alright? Please tell me he’s fine because that was some serious Care Bear Stare shit going on right there.”

Steve half-heartedly told him to shut up as he fumbled for the emergency release tab that Tony had begrudgingly added for the team. He steeled himself for any type of gruesome sight that could lie below the armour. With a quick intake of breath, he pulled the tab.

Steve froze as he gazed at the contents of the suit. He would have expected literally anything except _this_.

Within the suit there sat a small cat with black fur and a small patch of blueish-grey on the chest. And the eyes. That’s how Steve knew this cat was their teammate. Those brown eyes shone with intelligence that only belonged to one man.

Steve barely noticed as Natasha came running up behind, hoping to see that her teammate was okay.

Steve was too wrapped up in his goddamn shock at this _predicament_ to notice the whispered, “What the _fuck_?”

 

* * *

 

Steve sat in the conference room at SHIELD, rewinding after the hectic aftermath of the battle. Getting the cat onto the helicarrier had proved harder than initially thought, and very one had a few scratches to show for it. He sighed for the umpteenth time as he half-heartedly told Fury about the events of the battle.

“And once he had fallen, I removed the top of the suit to find him like _that_.” 

Everyone looked over to the cat who was entertaining himself by swatting at Natasha’s glass of water. She did nothing but smile as Tony pushed to glass onto the floor.The cat straightened and looked at Fury, who was glaring hard. Tony, unaffected by the glare, relaxed again and turned around to nudge himself into Natasha’s hand. She looked surprised for a short second before complying and lightly stroking her delicate but deadly fingers through his fur.

Fury sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before looking up at Thor, “Is there anyway to reverse it?”

Thor looked regretful as he spoke quietly asto not disturb Tony, “I have asked all who may know, and the only helpful information I have gathered is that the spell should wear off within three to four days.” He paused for a moment to look over to where Tony was rubbing into Natasha, “But, no. The spell is not reversible. And it also seems that Tony is purely feline.”

Fury sighed before standing and making eye contact with each person, “Well, I guess you’ve got a new cat for a while.” 

Steve immediately interjected, thinking of all the things that could go wrong, “Sir, that can’t be a good idea. What if there’s a call to assemble?”

Fury paused in his advances to the door and gave him a blank stare, “The Hulk is not needed in most cases, so Bruce can watch him.” 

In the corner of Steve’s eye, he saw Bruce immediately stiffen with anxiety, “But I don’t know how to take care of a cat! None of us do!”

Fury merely huffed before continuing his walk towards the door, “JARVIS is more than capable to help you, I’m sure. I’ll also have one of the agents send you with a kit.”

Once he was out of the room, everyone looked over at Tony, who was in to process of pushing another glass off of the table.

Steve sighed and pushed his head into his hand as he heard the crash. He _already_ had a headache.

 

* * *

  

The team walked out of the elevator and onto the common room floor. They were all in their civilian clothes and had already showered. Natasha had stayed with Tony while Steve and the rest of the team showered before switching out. Steve had been done first, so he got stuck with Tony as Natasha showered. Tony seemed to be golden for her, but Steve got a few more scratches when he tried to get close. He sat on the couch as he watched Tony walk around the living room and jump onto the shelf that held video game discs. He seemed to like this spot, choosing to lay there, and Steve watched as his tail swung rhythmically back and forth. He felt awkward just staring at him, knowing that somewhere deep down, this animal was Tony. Steve didn’t know how he was ever going to look at the genius the same again, not after seeing him as a cat, especially not after watching him lick his fur. If he saw him hack up a hair ball, he was going to throw up.

When the rest of the team entered the room, Tony jumped down from his perch to greet them. He weaved in and out between their legs, stopping at Natasha, whom he rubbed up against as she walked. Steve didn’t know why Cat Tony seemed to like Natasha so much, but it was cute to see. Thor came out of the elevator last, holding the cardboard box that one of the younger SHIELD agents had shoved into their hands. Bruce broke apart from the group to start making dinner, as it was nearing the end of the day. Natasha sat on the couch next to Steve and allowed Tony to jump onto her lap as she stroked his back.

Steve watched for a moment at the oddly sweet scene before speaking, “He really does seem to like you, Nat.”

She smiled as she looked up at Steve, not pausing in her stroking, “It’s probably because I’m female. I probably remind him of Pepper.”

Steve’s smile immediately dropped as his chest seized in panic. “Pepper. JARVIS does-“

The British voice rang out, interrupting Steve, “Ms. Potts is aware of the situation and should arrive tomorrow.”

Steve exhaled, relieved that he wasn’t the one who had to tell Pepper that her boyfriend was now a cat.

Steve startled as he heard the box being ripped open. Tony too seemed to notice the commotion, and jumped off of Natasha’s lap to investigate to box. Both Clint and Thor looked inside of the box and began unpacking it. Clint smiles as he saw a small ball come out, and picked it up.

“Hey, look at this!” He clicked his tongue to get Tony’s attention, and threw the ball across the room, watching as it bounced letting the small bell inside ring annoyingly.

Tony did not seem impressed, he only watched the ball until it stopped moving before looking back at Clint as if to say ‘What was the purpose of that?’.

Natasha chuckled at Clint’s frown and watched as he pulled out a small laser pointer next.

Tony jumped as the laser was turned on, and Steve watched in amusement as he leapt off of the couch to chase it. Clint laughed as he moved the laser quickly, making it fly across the floor with Tony in tow. Natasha even blew out a breath of hidden laughter as Clint moved the red dot to the wall, making Tony swat helplessly at it. This continued for a moment until Tony abruptly stopped and just watched the dot for a few moments. Steve was about to say something when the cat quickly spun around and leapt at Clint’s hand who let out an undignified screech as Tony bit the laser pointer out of his hand. Steve laughed as he watched Tony being the toy over to Natasha, curling up in her lap as he chewed.

Steve spoke as he rose off of the couch, “I guess he’s still smart, even as a cat.” Thor nodded in agreement as he moved over to let Steve see the contents of the box. Steve chose to ignore Clint, who rose dejectedly, muttering about a sandwich.

He picked up a can of cat food before looking over at the digital clock to see that it was nearing five. “We should probably feed him,” he said to no one in particular as he picked up the bowl from the box and went to the kitchen to find a spoon. He grabbed one from the many drawers, and set the bowl on the counter. Pulling the tab on the can, Steve scrunched his nose as the foul odor rose filled his keen nose. He distastefully scooped the pile of mush in to the bowl, and set it just outside of the kitchen where Natasha had led Tony to. Steve expected him to be hungry after the hectic day, but the cat just looked up at him with those intelligent, narrowed eyes as he cocked his head at Steve.

Natasha just smiled and moved to over to Clint where he was making a sandwich.

“Hey!” Clint exclaimed as Natasha plucked the can of tuna out of his hand.

“Oh stop,” she said with a smile, “Tony will prefer this over that can of slop.”

She placed the can on the floor, and Tony immediately began to scarf down the wet fish.

She smiled and sat down at one of the chairs at the table and watched the cat fondly, “He’s just picky.”

Clint’s voice came loudly from the kitchen as he moved to grab a new can of tuna, “More like he’s just a pain in our asses.”

Steve could only mutter ‘language’ through his tangible fondness and realization at how stupidly domestic this all was.

 

* * *

 

Steve walked into the kitchen in the early morning, back from a jog. He stopped by to grab a water bottle, and had briefly been startled to find Cat Tony sitting on the counter. In his morning haze, he had forgotten about the events that occurred yesterday.

Clint was opening another can of tuna, but scooped some out for his sandwich (what was it with this man and sandwiches?) before sliding the can over to Tony.

Steve just shook his head and walked over to the fridge, but stopped when he heard the elevator doors open, and heels clicking on the floors. 

Tony’s head perked up when Pepper entered the kitchen, looking furious, “Where is-?” Her rage tapered off as she locked onto the cat. She melted and walked over and scooped him up. Tony allowed himself to be picked up as Pepper muttered to him while brushing her hands through the hair on top of his head. For the first time since the transformation, Tony purred as he nuzzled into her hand, looking very content.

Clint paused in the making of his sandwich and stared at the scene with an odd look on his face, “This is oddly...cute?”

Pepper seemed to ignore him as she took Tony over to the couch, letting him snuggle into her lap.

At that moment, Steve was glad for his enhanced hearing, for it allowed him to hear the golden sentence muttered by Pepper.

“I like you better as a cat,” she whispered lovingly, “You’re finally quiet.”

* * *

 

The rest of the day went smoothly. Steve was thankful for the fact that there were no Assemble calls today, for it gave him the opportunity to relax. He sparred with Natasha and even had time for some sketching, which he was thankful for. As for Tony, he mostly kept to himself as he wandered to different parts of the tower. Throughout the day, there were times were no one would see him for hours, which reminded Steve of Tony in his human form. JARVIS promised to keep an eye on him though, and make sure he didn’t get into any trouble. Though, there was one point in which he abandoned his sketchbook on the table to go get a granola bar to satiate his every growing hunger, only to come back and find a certain black cat sitting on top of the page, staring him down.

After he finally got Tony to move, Steve began to fill pages and pages with sketches of cats, humoring himself as he sketched Tony pawing at his granola bar wrapper. 

* * *

 

That night, Steve woke in a cold sweat.He gasped as he sat ramrod straight in bed, shaken from reliving losing his best friend from another time. Bucky‘s fall flashed before his eyes and he gulped down the rising bile in his throat.

He knew he couldn’t sit here in the dark any longer, so he made to decision to make himself busy and go get some water.

He blinked away threatening tears and walked shakily to the kitchen.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw two large eyes staring back at him in the darkness.

Fumbling for the light, he found Tony lying on the counter next to the fridge, seemingly waiting for him.

Steve sighed and broke eye contact so that he could grab a glass and fill it with water. Once he was done, he leaned back on the counter and slowly sipped the cold water. In his tiredness, he had once again forgotten about Tony and was startled when he felt something furry rub against his back. 

Tony’s head popped around his arm, and the rest of the body followed as the feline sat next to him. The cat looked up at him and his brown eyes shown with understanding the no cat should have.

Steve sighed and set down his water so he could pet Tony along the head. The cat nuzzled in and have a rare purr. Steve let out a smile and whispered, “Hey Tony.”

 They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Tony seemed to become bored. He walked around Steve again before stopping next to Steve’s glass of water. 

It took a few moments for Steve’s tired mind to realize what was happening, but once he did he looked his teammate dead in the eye and sternly said, “No.”

Tony didn’t even break contact as he swatted Steve’s water off of the counter. 

Steve couldn’t even bring himself to be mad as he laughed shakily to pick up the pieces of glass.

He was glad he decided to come get a glass of water, it made him feel better.

 

* * *

 

Bruce sat on the couch watching as Tony slept on top of the shelf. The rest of the team had been called to an assemble, but the Hulk was not needed, so Bruce was on cat sitting duty. He was watching something random on TV (River Monsters?) but wasn’t really paying attention. He was kind of reveling in the fact that the lump of fur five feet away from him was actually Tony. It was weird, not just because he was a cat, but also because this was the longest Bruce had ever spent with the genius. He and Tony were friends, but the genius was always on the move, spending no longer than an hour in each space. The only exception was Tony’s personal lab. The billionaire could spend days down there without coming up for air, his only company being his bots.

Bruce idly wondered if Cat Tony would like the bots as much as Human Tony. There certainly were similarities between the two. Bruce had found that out the hard way when he tried to pet the cat’s blueish-grey patch of fur. Tony had immediately hissed and scratched his hand away, not unlike how human Tony becomes angry and distant whenever anyone gets close to his arc reactor.

Bruce, in his boredom, got up and clicked his tongue, waking Tony up. He kept clicking so Tony would follow him into the elevator, and Tony thankfully obliged. When they reached the lab, Bruce called for Dum-E, U, and, Butterfingers to come over.

Tony looked frightened as the large bots came rolling over. Dum-E seemed the most interested in the cat, but also the most wary. He lowered his claw and slowly rolled towards Tony, who eventually perked up and began to nuzzle into the claw.

Bruce sat down in one of the many chairs and watched as all three bots began to carefully play with the cat.

Tony seemed to love the interaction, playfully swatting at their wheels and meowing happily.

Bruce smiled at the sweet scene and relaxed into the chair, soon drifting off.

 

* * *

 

 Bruce woke to the sound of loud meowing and distressed beeping noises. He frantically looked up to see Dum-E with a fire extinguisher and a large pile of foam that seemed to be moving.

He scrambled to his feet and shooed the bots always as he reached into the foam and pulled out Tony, who was still covered in foam.

Bruce pulled the cat close to his chest, not caring about his shirt, and made his way to the elevator.

“JARVIS, Please ask Ms. Potts to come. I think I might need some help giving a cat a bath.”

“Certainly.” Came the British voice, which sounded very amused.

 

* * *

  

Getting Tony into the bath had been a hassle, even with Peppers help. But soon enough, they got all of the foam out of his fur.

Suddenly, Tony’s dejected meows turned into groans, and the body in the bath grew larger and larger. Soon enough, there was a human Tony in the bath tub (fully clothed, thank god) who looked completely out of it.

Pepper quickly helped him out of the tub and gave him a towel to dry off with.

After a few minutes, Tony left the bathroom muttering about a change of clothes.

Pepper and Bruce shared a look, and he had to physically restrain himself from laughing.

 

* * *

 

Steve had come back from the recent battle exhausted. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to mix the genomes if frogs and wolves, and the result was terrifying.

Walking into the kitchen, he was surprised to see a human Tony talking to Bruce and Pepper about how ‘eggs were so much better than tuna.’

Steve grabbed two glasses of water and placed on on the counter next to Tony’s plate of eggs, smile wide in his face, “Hey Tony, nice to have you back.”

The man looked up at him with those soft and intelligent eyes, full of understanding and thankfulness. Steve almost thought Tony would spurt something sappy out, but was pleasantly content with the response he got.

“Nice to be back, though,” he gestured to the glass of water, “I do have a strange urge to push that off.” 

Pepper smiled and ruffled the billionaires hair before exiting the room.

Yeah, Steve was glad Tony was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TADA!!!!
> 
> I had fun writing this one and I hope you liked it. Kudos and comments are definitely appreciated. Tell me what you thought, what you liked, or about your pet rock.
> 
> On a totally unrelated note, my favorite thing to do with this fic is to read sentences out of context. It’s hilarious. Tell my your favorite ones in the comment section!
> 
> Again: PLEASE KUDOS! Every single kudos makes my day and spur me to keep writing. Also, I have a new fic coming out soon! Lots of Tony angst!!!
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> (Also forgot to mention that the title came from one of the albums by Of Monsters and Men)


	2. Cat Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have hit a hundred hits???? What?!? I posted this just a couple of hours ago! WhAt?!?!

http://messybeast.com/images/vitiligo-charva.jpg

So this is how I imagined Tony as a cat looking, but the blueish-grey being contained to just his chest and the rest of him being just black.

It would be awesome if someone could do some art of this. I have tried, but I’m better at humanoid figures.

Hoped you guys enjoyed the fic!


	3. Artwork

I sucked it up and sat down and banged this out. I didn’t have any black colored pencils or paint (I know right?!) so it’s brown.

<https://www.deviantart.com/ipomhw/art/2573446c-c9c0-4377-b453-b997fe3cccd8-800654840>

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [fanart for IPutOnMyHeadphonesWalking´s fic!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19981441) by [tiamal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiamal/pseuds/tiamal)




End file.
